Queen Elizabeth I/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A boy, and a robot, Moby, are dressed in Elizabethan costumes. MOBY: Beep. TIM: I can't believe people used to wear these things every day. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, Can you make a movie about Queen Elizabeth the first of England? Thanks, Marc. TIM: Well, Queen Elizabeth the first is one of the best-loved and most famous of all English monarchs. An image shows Queen Elizabeth I. TIM: She was born in 1533 as the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. A family tree shows Queen Elizabeth I with her parents, Henry VII and Anne Boleyn. TIM: But her reign got off to a rocky start. First of all, her father had married six women over the course of his reign. So, he had a lot of children who wanted the throne. An image shows Henry VIII and the six women he married. TIM: Only one of Henry's wives had a son, Edward VI, but he died young. An image shows Edward VI. TIM: Elizabeth didn't get the throne after his death. First, it went to her sister Mary. An animation shows Queen Mary I. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, a lot of people didn't want Elizabeth on the throne because she was Protestant. Back then, England was in a bloody struggle over religion. Roman Catholics and Protestants, two kinds of Christians, disagreed violently with each other. Many of them were even willing to kill and die for their beliefs. An image shows Roman Catholics and Protestants holding crosses and screaming at each other. TIM: But when Mary died in 1558, Elizabeth took the throne. An image shows Elizabeth sitting on the throne. TIM: Within a year she passed the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity, which established England as a Protestant country, and got rid of anyone who objected. An image shows the queen pointing to a Catholic clergyman who is walking away from her. TIM: Not everyone was happy about that, but it did bring peace to the country. For most queens, the next step would have been getting married. No one's sure why Elizabeth never did. Lots of people wanted to marry her, and choosing not to marry was pretty unusual for a woman back then. An image shows a man holding a flower presenting himself to Elizabeth. TIM: But, for one thing, she would have lost a lot of power if she'd been married. Under the laws of the time, she would no longer have enjoyed the absolute authority she enjoyed throughout her reign. An animation shows Elizabeth’s crown disappearing from her head and appearing on her husband's head if she married. TIM: Also, a queen couldn't just marry anyone. She had to marry royalty, which would have meant marrying someone who was the king or prince of a different country. And that would have put England under a foreign power. So, she never married, and that's why she's often called the Virgin Queen. In fact, the state of Virginia is named after her. A U.S. map shows Virginia. TIM: She was also known as Gloriana and good Queen Bess. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, she was vey popular with her subjects. Shakespeare's plays were revolutionizing the theater, and the economy grew steadily. An image shows Shakespeare in front of the Globe Theater. TIM: Instead of shutting herself up in the castle like some monarchs, she would go out riding through towns and villages so people could see her. An animation shows Queen Elizabeth riding a horse through a village. TIM: Many historians refer to Elizabethan England as a golden age. Elizabeth was an able politician, too. She was smart and well-educated, and she had a knack for choosing good advisors. An image shows the queen with an advisor. TIM: She headed off threats of invasion from Spain and France, as well as rebellions in Scotland and Ireland, and plots against her by disgruntled English Catholics. A map of Europe shows the countries Tim names. TIM: One of her biggest victories was when England's navy defeated the powerful Spanish Armada in 1588. An animation shows British ships holding off Spanish ships. TIM: That set England on its way to becoming a great naval power. Under Elizabeth's reign, navigator Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world, and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh colonized land in what's now North Carolina. An animated map shows North Carolina and Drake's ship sailing around the world. TIM: She died on March 24th, 1603. As a result of her popularity, for hundreds of years afterwards, the date she became queen was a national holiday. I still can't believe anyone managed to rule a country wearing this! Tim coughs as he pulls on the costume's collar. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts